FFS!!! Pope blames devil for Church divisions, scandals, seeks angel's help

[RKP5637]

OK, this is getting damn absurd and ridiculous!!! Right back to the middle ages!!! FFS!!! This is 2018.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-devil/pope-blames-devil-for-church-divisions-scandals-seeks-angels-help-idUSKCN1MI10M

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The devil is alive and well and working overtime to undermine the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis says.

In fact, the pope is so convinced that Satan is to blame for the sexual abuse crisis and deep divisions racking the Church that he has asked Catholics around the world to recite a special prayer every day in October to try to beat him back.

Since he was elected in 2013, Francis has made clear that he believes the devil to be real. In a document in April on holiness in the modern world, Francis mentioned the devil more than a dozen times.

“We should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea. This mistake would lead us to let down our guard, to grow careless and end up more vulnerable,” he wrote in the document.

[SunSeeker]

1. The help is in your hands, Francis. The angels already gave you all the power you need.

All you have to do is change Canon Law, which only you can do, so that priests who have pedophilia accusations against them are reported to the police instead of the current secret internal church review and reassignment, per the current Canon Law. As long as you continue handling pedophilia accusations like you are, you will continue to have rampant child rape.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2018/08/28/commentary-why-its-so/

[Loki Liesmith]

2. Complaining that a Christian is adopting a traditional Christian stance

is an interesting tack.

[SunSeeker]

13. The Bible says God gave us free will. People choose to sin.

You are supposed to confess and atone for your sins, not blame them on someone else.

[Loki Liesmith]

21. His statement below

“(The Church must be) saved from the attacks of the malign one, the great accuser and at the same time be made ever more aware of its guilt, its mistakes, and abuses committed in the present and the past,”

Nowhere does he deny responsibility on behalf of the church here. He just believes the devil is at war with the church.

That is standard Christian teaching. Maybe you don’t believe in a devil. I don’t either. But he does. And your critique is meaningless in the face of that belief.

[SunSeeker]

33. So why doesn't he use his power to change Canon Law and report these priests to the authorities?

[rurallib]

3. why take responsibility for anything when you can blame on one of those invisible critters

that seem to cause us to do everything?

NOT MY FAULT!

[PJMcK]

4. Magical thinking

That's all I've got since this is silliness.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. Ugh!

[tenderfoot]

6. That must mean priests are devils

eom

[FakeNoose]

20. He forgot to say ...

..."the devil is in their dicks."

[procon]

7. Will that work as a legal defense, or will the psych evaluation render it moot?nt

[bitterross]

8. That is the traditional enemy for the RCC. Not a real surprise.

At least he's not blaming on the Gays and women and everyone else.

It could be much worse. He's just blaming it on the traditional non-existent devil the same way he looks for guidance from his non-existent God.

[LiberalFighter]

9. What is to stop all of his followers when they commit sins or crimes

from saying the devil made me do it?

[RKP5637]

11. Exactly! Blaming it on a devil myth is a sheer lack of taking responsibility. n/t

[sarcasmo]

10. Sky being, oh sky being, blah, blah, blah.

[hatrack]

12. . . . . . .

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Right?

[stopbush]

15. Christianity is make believe. 100%.

The Pope is talking like a frightened child, frightened by the monsters under the bed.

[RKP5637]

19. Exactly!!! n/t

[Solly Mack]

16. The Flip Wilson School of Theology

[RKP5637]

18. He was great!!! Brings back some good memories!!! n/t

[lapucelle]

17. The whole article is worth a read, at least for missing context.

“(The Church must be) saved from the attacks of the malign one, the great accuser and at the same time be made ever more aware of its guilt, its mistakes, and abuses committed in the present and the past,” Francis said in a message on Sept. 29.

The article goes on to speculate that the term "the great accuser" was deliberately chosen as a shot across the bow of one of Francis's conservative critics:

Francis’ use of the term “the great accuser” to describe Satan hit a raw nerve with one of the pope’s harshest conservative critics, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Vatican’s former ambassador to Washington.

Details of Viganò's claims can be found here.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/world/europe/pope-ireland-sexual-abuse-letter-vigano.html

Earlier this year, Francis caused consternation among the doctrinaire when it was reported that he had speculated to journalist friend in a private conversation that there is no hell.

"Souls are not punished," the Pope was quoted as saying in the Repubblica piece. "Those who repent obtain God's forgiveness and go among the ranks of those who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot be forgiven disappear. There is no hell - there is the disappearance of sinful souls."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43596919

[RKP5637]

22. Interesting!!! Thanks!!! n/t

[Permanut]

23. Same with the Protestant fundies..

They love to trot out Satan (the Enemy, Lucifer) to account for such things as, oh, Democrats, the global warming hoax, the attacks on our wonderful dear leader, the deep state and the shadow government. Barbara Carmack, host of a daily radio show out of Denver, rants daily about it, and many others as well.

[RKP5637]

26. Yep, they're all pretty much cut from the same piece of cloth. n/t

[Initech]

24. Well, to be fair, Putin is Satan in human form.

Shit, he literally has a rocket called "Satan 2". So I guess you could say Francis is right in that regard!

[RKP5637]

25. Come to think of it, Boofer Brett could have used this as his defense! The devil made me do it!!!

[Initech]

29. Well hey it ain't called "The Devil's Triangle" for nothing!

[RKP5637]

30. Good catch!!! n/t

[exboyfil]

27. Could it be ... Satan

[ismnotwasm]

28. Why do people think that a Catholic doesn't believe

In Catholicism? Religious organizations are not going to evolve out of magical thinking. All religions partake in it.

[meow2u3]

31. Pope Francis does have a point

Conservatism in the name of God is straight out of Hell and from the Devil. After all, Old Scratch, the archbully from hell, loves to divide people, loves to tempt people in power to use it to abuse the weakest among us, and loves to pass off conservative ideology as authentic Christianity.

[Freethinker65]

32. Is that an infallible?

Thoughts and prayers are not a cure, but they are a great way to deny responsibility.

Add the current pope to the likes of Jimmy Swaggart. Sad.